The last play

[MileHighGrowler]

(02-14-2022, 11:55 PM)jj22 Wrote: Shoulda coulda woulda. Makes for a long offseason.

So close to bringing legitimacy to the City and Organization. Being the darlings of the league.

Back to the drawing board.

The team being expected to finish last in the division and making the playoffs, beating the #1 seed in the Conference and the Chiefs on the road to get there, a young exciting core group of players and seemingly the whole country rooting for them, I think they're pretty legitimate now.  I don't think it's back to the drawing board at all.  They just need to build on what they did.  It will be harder next year to get back, because they'll have a target on their backs all season and the grind will be longer for everyone looking ahead to a SB.  But this team is set to succeed.  

Traveling this weekend, I can tell you people before and after the game were excited about the Bengals and their future.  There is a vocal minority talking about how they didn't belong and it was a fluke and they won't be back.  But by and large, the franchise wrote a new chapter and changed the mindset of many this year.  Let's see where they take it.